Item 5 this afternoon is a statement from the Minister for Social Justice on Holocaust Memorial Day, and I call on the Minister, Jane Hutt, to make the statement.

This Thursday will mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2022, and, on this day, we remember those who lost their lives during the Holocaust and in the genocides that have followed.

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day this year is 'One Day'. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has highlighted the different ways we can interpret this theme, such as: learning from past events to build a better future, where one day there will be no genocide; focusing on one day in history and learning about the events of that particular day; or remembering those whose lives were an unimaginable struggle during horrific periods of history, where people could only take one day at a time in the hope that the next day would be better.

We support Holocaust Memorial Day not only to remember the direct victims and survivors, but also to remember vital lessons from history. Hate and prejudice are not issues confined to the past. Genocides do not typically begin with mass murder. They begin with an incremental undermining of personal freedoms and the rule of law and an inexorable othering of sections of society. We have a vision for Wales to be a place where everyone is respected and diversity is celebrated. We want to drive out hatred and provide a warm welcome to all, and I want to reiterate that hate has no home in Wales.

On Thursday morning, the Wales ceremony will be broadcast on Cardiff Council's YouTube channel. The First Minister will take part in the ceremony, alongside Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke. Eva moved to Wales after the second world war and found safety and happiness here. We owe a great deal of gratitude to Eva and other survivors of the Holocaust and all genocides who spend countless hours sharing their stories in our communities. Their stories provide a stark warning of the dangers of hateful and divisive narratives and what can happen when people and communities are targeted and dehumanised, just because of who they are.

The UK ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 will be streamed online on Thursday evening, and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is inviting people across the UK to light a candle at 8 p.m. and place it in the window to remember those who lost their lives during genocide. As part of this effort to light the darkness, buildings across Wales will be lit up purple, including the Wales Millennium Centre, Castell Coch and the Senedd.

Once again, the Welsh Government has provided funding to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to support organisations across Wales with planning their commemoration events for Holocaust Memorial Day this year. In the run-up to the day, the trust has engaged with a diverse mix of organisations across Wales, including third sector organisations, businesses, places of worship, schools, student unions, museums and prisons. The trust has confirmed that some of the Welsh organisations taking part this year include the Josef Herman Art Foundation Cymru, African Community Centre Wales and the Olive Trust. Local authorities are also playing their part, making statements of commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and sponsoring exhibitions and events. It is encouraging to see the level of engagement and the eagerness to commemorate such an important occasion. It demonstrates a commitment from Wales to always remember those lost during genocide.

The Welsh Government continues to fund the Holocaust Educational Trust to run the Lessons from Auschwitz programme in Wales. The trust has adapted to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by developing a groundbreaking, interactive, digital platform to deliver its learning programme. The programme includes interactive online live sessions, led by experts in the history of the Holocaust, live survivor testimony, and also provides the opportunity to experience the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum through virtual reality technology. The programme will again be delivered digitally in 2022, with an enhanced learning platform to include digitally rendered artefacts from the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum and a new piece of virtual reality focused on the town of Oświęcim, which became known as Auschwitz when invaded by the Nazis in 1939. It will enable participants to further their understanding of the pre-war Jewish community that existed in this town as well as the devastating impact that the rise of Nazism had on the local population.

We take our responsibilities in supporting minority communities seriously because we know the loss of human potential inequality causes, as well as the risks of divided communities. Through our various action plans, we are seeking to eliminate inequalities, whether in relation to race or nationality, sexual orientation, sex or gender identity, or disability. This includes the development of the race equality action plan, amongst others, to help us meet our vision of an anti-racist Wales.

We continue to tackle hate crime where it occurs through funding the national hate crime report and support centre, the hate crime in schools project, and our community cohesion programme. Our anti-hate crime campaign, Hate Hurts Wales, aims to portray the devastating effect of hate crime, but also encourage people to report it and get support.

The most recent hate crime statistics, published in October 2021, showed a 16 per cent rise in recorded hate crimes in Wales when compared to the previous year. I want to encourage victims of hate and witnesses to come forward and report these incidents to the police or to the national hate crime report and support centre, which is run on our behalf by Victim Support Cymru. There is support and it will be taken seriously. Dirprwy Lywydd, we need to continue to challenge hate, wherever we find it, so that one day we can truly honour genocide victims and say with confidence that the lessons of genocide have been learned. Diolch yn fawr.

Conservative spokesperson, Darren Millar.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want to thank the Minister today for her statement this afternoon. I think it's really important that the Senedd and the nation of Wales takes the time to remember and reflect upon the horrors of the Holocaust and all genocides since, and Holocaust Memorial Day helps us to do just that. I want to pay tribute as well to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and to the Holocaust Education Trust for the work that they do, not only on Holocaust Memorial Day, but all year round, to promote remembrance of these things. Because they don't only offer us an opportunity to consider all those who lost their lives as a result of the Holocaust and genocides since, they also give us an opportunity to consider survivors, those individuals who live with the mental and physical scars from those horrific periods in human history.

It's a great shame, I think, that many events are not being held in person this year because of COVID restrictions, but I am very pleased that the Welsh Government has continued to fund the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and many of its activities to support commemoration across the country. I want to urge Members of the Senedd to engage with events in their constituencies this year, particularly those that involve the first-hand testimonies of those dwindling numbers of people who survived the brutality of the evils of the Nazi regime. Those of us who have attended such events in the Senedd in the past can't fail to have been both moved and motivated by the Holocaust survivors who shared their stories over the years, including Mala Tribich, Henri Obstfeld and Henry Schachter, all of whom have visited the Senedd to share their agonising and shocking stories about their personal experiences and loss. 

Regrettably, of course, we all know that the hate and racism that acts as the breeding ground for the evil that leads to events such as the Holocaust has unfortunately not been completely eradicated, and it's for this reason that we've always got to be vigilant and take swift action to tackle racism and hate wherever it rears its ugly head. While I know of the Minister's personal commitment to stamping out hate and racism in Wales, and welcome very much the initiatives to which her statement has referred, I am very concerned that the number of hate crimes recorded in Wales continues to rise, including reports of antisemitism. The Minister will be aware that concerns have been expressed by the Jewish community in Wales in recent months about the blocking of people from Israel from being able to access the Cadw website. Now, while I appreciate that this matter has now been addressed, regrettably the Welsh Government has still failed to provide any explanation as to why the firewall configuration on the Cadw server was set up in such a way that it allowed people from other nations around the globe to access the Cadw website, yet blocked access from the only Jewish state in the world. Now, this matter was brought to the attention of Cadw back in September of last year, yet nothing was done until I raised the matter in the Senedd in December. So, perhaps, Minister, can you tell us today who was it that set up that firewall in that particular way? Why was Israel blocked? And why did it take months to resolve the issue? The Jewish community, I think, need and deserve answers.

In addition to that, concerns have also been raised about the recent appointment of Rocio Cifuentes as the new Children's Commissioner for Wales. Social media shows that the commissioner attended a protest in Swansea at which there were chants of 'Khaybar, oh Jews', which, of course, is a well-known rallying call to genocide. Now, regrettably, Ms Cifuentes's Twitter feed still promotes the rally to which I've referred. Wales needs a children's commissioner, Minister, who promotes the rights of all children in Wales, including those of the Jewish faith and heritage. So, I'd be grateful if you could tell us what action the Welsh Government has now taken to investigate concerns about Ms Cifuentes's appointment and her suitability for this important role.

And finally, one of the things that I want to applaud the Welsh Government for is the way in which it adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. But, regrettably, Minister, in spite of the leadership shown by the Welsh Government in that particular area, there are many organisations, there are many public sector organisations in receipt of Welsh Government funds, who have not adopted it. Some of those organisations are further education and higher education organisations here in Wales—our universities. Now, these ought to be places where people can feel safe from the evil of antisemitism, but, unfortunately the reluctance of those institutions to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance antisemitism definition, I think is causing many Jewish people and learners at those universities to be fearful about the future. Can you tell us whether the Welsh Government will commit today to requiring anybody in receipt of Welsh Government funds to adopt that definition as a matter of urgency? I look forward to your responses.

Diolch yn fawr. Thank you very much, Darren Millar, and thank you for your recognition, particularly not just of our support for Holocaust Memorial Day and the events that we take part in, but also support for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the funding that we provide, and I'm glad that you welcome the events that are being held across Wales. Indeed, I'm sure many Members here will want to refer to them. I think the fact we've got such a range, including the Josef Herman Art Foundation Cymru—they've got a short film on theme of 'one day', which is going to look at, in the past, 1942, one day in the present, focusing on the current plight of refugees, and then one day 50 years in the future and the issue of climate refugees, all very current and relevant—looking to the Olive Trust, hosting an online memorial event, including speakers sharing personal accounts of the Holocaust, and, indeed, Cardiff United Synagogue supporting the Wales National Holocaust Memorial Day remembrance service online that's being held and partaking in smaller services as well, but including also in the events this week Churches Together in Wales using their opportunities, particularly through social media, Llandaff Cathedral, with a prayer session and choral evensong, as well as Disability Wales—these are all diverse organisations—highlighting how disabled people were targeted and treated during the Holocaust, and using resources to show that impact.

I think it's very sad that we're not having a cross-party event together, Darren, as we have done in many times past. It actually was in 2020 that together we attended as Assembly Members, as we were then, the event in the Senedd—and those cross-party events are important; we will gather, I'm sure, in the future to do that—with, as you said, Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich giving her personal account. But also it was very relevant that we had Isaac Blake speaking about the experiences of Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust, but also, I'd have to say, the First Minister and I attending Cardiff United Synagogues' public menorah-lighting ceremony in Cardiff castle on the final night of Hanukkah before Christmas—a historic event, because it was the first ever public menorah lighting to be held at the castle. And I can continue, with our ongoing inter-faith engagement, with faith leaders coming together, including the Jewish community. So, there is much we must be positive about, in terms of recognition of how we come together, learning from genocide for a better future.

Now, I do acknowledge the issues that you've raised. Clearly, the issues around the Cadw server have been addressed. And I would like to just comment on the appointment of the Children's Commissioner for Wales, because I was delighted by the appointment of the next Children's Commissioner for Wales. The cross-party appointment panel that I chaired unanimously agreed on the successful candidate, and the Children, Young People, and Education Committee, which held a public pre-appointment scrutiny hearing, saw no reason not to endorse the appointment. The First Minister has replied to the Welsh Conservatives, who have made a range of unsubstantiated claims, and he set out the robustness of the recruitment process, which all Members are aware of. The appointment process will not be reopened. But I think, importantly, to say to Darren and colleagues, I was determined that the involvement of children and young people was an integral part of the recruitment exercise, and they were involved at a number of points through this recruitment exercise, and I'm sure that Members will want to now welcome the new appointment and the new children's commissioner, Rocio Cifuentes, who will start in her post in due course.

It is important that we continue to be vigilant in terms of our commitment to antisemitism, and I think the ways in which we come together throughout the year, not just now, the National Holocaust Memorial Day, are important. I think to be accountable as the Welsh social justice Minister for the Welsh Government is important in terms of our commitment to tackle hate crime and antisemitism, in particular today. So, adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism in full, without qualification, back in 2017, and restating that commitment in 2018, on every opportunity—. And of course this is an opportunity to share the importance of that with all our public bodies across Wales, because its adoption is quite clearly an important step to support understanding and recognition of contemporary forms of antisemitism, to be clear that antisemitism in any form will not be tolerated in Wales, and the Welsh Government stands with the Jewish community. We condemn the vile hatred expressed by individuals who seek to create a climate of fear and aim to fragment our communities.

So, we remain vigilant, but we today also recognise what we can do, what contribution we can make on Holocaust Memorial Day in this Senedd and in Welsh Government and indeed across Wales, as our support for all of these events that I've described will indicate.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Sioned Williams.

Thank you, Deputy Llywydd. In his excellent book Yr Erlid, Heini Gruffudd of Swansea tells the story of his mother, the scholar and author Käthe Bosse-Griffiths, and the appalling impact of the growth of Nazism and the Holocaust on her and her family in Germany. They, like millions of other families who weren't considered people by the Nazis and their allies, were persecuted and some, like his mother, had to flee, and others, like his great aunt, committed suicide, and millions like his grandmother were killed in the prisoner camps. It's difficult to imagine the suffering. But books such as Yr Erlid, telling the story of one family, help us to understand the way an appalling ideology and prejudice could bring about inhuman cruelty and genocide. The experience of my sister-in-law's family, Dr Zoe Morris-Williams, was very similar, and the descendents of her grandfather, Heinz Koppel, who became one of the foremost artists of Wales, have made a major contribution to their communities and to Wales, with Zoe, the granddaughter of a refugee, saving lives as a doctor.

Just as individual family stories ensure that we understand the incomprehensible, one day, Holocaust Memorial Day, helps us to remember the lives of the millions killed as a result of Nazi persecution and also every family across the globe who have suffered as a result of genocide. A day of remembrance gives us a chance to reflect on these stories and to hear and to understand the warnings that they contain, and to commit to work towards a future without persecution and cruelty of this kind, and to eradicate the racism and intolerance that can lead to that.

We have mentioned in this place that we are currently living through an economic crisis that we haven't seen the likes of for decades. We have seen, in a period of national crisis and economic uncertainty, how intolerance can grow and can be nurtured for political reasons. This isn't a thing of the past. Just last week, I saw a Nazi symbol painted on a bus station wall in Neath. And the frightening statistics on reports of anti-Semitic attacks and racist attacks in Wales show clearly that a lack of tolerance is on the increase here in Wales. The Holocaust taught us that standing against prejudice and xenophobia is crucial.

Refugee organisations warn us that the new Nationality and Borders Bill of the Westminster Government will undermine our ambition here in Wales to be a nation of sanctuary for everyone who needs that sanctuary. Placing people in particular categories, proving their qualification by carrying out physical tests and therefore placing value on one life above another is something that we must pledge, on Holocaust Memorial Day of all days, to oppose. I would therefore like to ask whether the Minister agrees that we must do everything within the Government's ability to oppose the Nationality and Borders Bill of the UK Government, which will be so detrimental to those who are fleeing persecution, and what discussions has she had with the Westminster Government on this Bill. How does the Government ensure that we promote and celebrate the contribution of families who have made their homes here in Wales having fled prejudice, racism and violence? And would the Government agree to issue a statement on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, which would send a message of support to that community too? And what role can the new curriculum play in ensuring that our children understand and learn from the lessons of the past so that we, one day, can see a future that won't be scarred by the most appalling cruelty and will prevent any nation from taking the path that leads to genocide? Thank you.

Diolch yn fawr, Sioned Williams, and also can we thank you for those powerful accounts of those survivors and family members, and the importance of recognising that those stories must live and continue as they educate us—all of us—and so many have been touched by that? And those stories will be heard, of course, during the week: on Thursday, Eva Clarke, with the First Minister. There are still survivors, who can—. And there are so few left now who can give those accounts, and it is important that we recognise and support those together.

But, I think this is also about—and you mentioned the curriculum—the ways in which we are reaching out to our children and young people, because we funded the Holocaust Educational Trust to run the Lessons from Auschwitz programme in Wales. It's currently being delivered online, but there are seminars guided by experts and first-hand testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Those students—and I think many of us will know the young people who have benefited from those from our schools and our communities—they learn about pre-war Jewish life, the former Nazi death and concentration camps—as I said, Auschwitz-Birkenau—and then they can continue. What's so important is the links you made to the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust. So, many of those students have become ambassadors, Holocaust Educational Trust ambassadors, and that does mean that they continue to share their knowledge, but it influences the whole of their lives and their values, and they share it in their communities. That's the ambassador role: encouraging others to remember the Holocaust.

It is important that you make that connection and that link to what we are doing now in Wales in relation to our commitment to being an anti-racist Wales with our race equality action plan, to ensure that Wales is built on the values of anti-racism, calling for zero tolerance of racism in all its guises. And what's important about that is, again, the way in which that plan is co-constructed with black, Asian and minority ethnic people and communities, and identifying that vision and values that we want to embrace for an anti-racist Wales, and what those actions and goals are that we need to take forward in terms of having an outcome. It's not just rhetoric on racial equality; it's about meaningful action. It is very important that we look at this in terms of all aspects of community life, our education, our curriculum as well, which I also mentioned, and recognising that this is an opportunity for us today to take stock of the progress that we have been able to make in terms of community cohesion and education.

I think it is also very important that you raised the issue of the concerns that we have about some of the legislation, for example, at UK Government level. You'll be very aware, of course, of the joint statement that I made with the Counsel General in terms of the Nationality and Borders Bill. We're very concerned that it could cause unforeseen and unequal impacts on people arriving in Wales, simply due to their method of arrival in Wales. We continue to raise those concerns. 

I think you mentioned Armenia. We know that there are genocides that we are very concerned about and we raise regularly, sometimes through short debates, sometimes in questions, but I would like to say how pleased I am that we've been able, as a Welsh Government, to support the peace academy, Academi Heddwch Cymru, supporting our international relationships through its peace work and partnerships, supporting the promotion of Wales as a place to work, study and live. And how significant it is today, as we celebrate the Urdd and its impact on our communities, our lives, our children and young people and our education. I have not had a chance to say it today, but I'd like to thank the Urdd for the way in which they stepped up to reach out to the Afghan refugees who came to us in August and provided brilliant and wonderful support, a team Wales support, to those refugees, who are now integrated into our communities.

It's something where we can see that—. In every aspect of the points that you've made in your contribution, we can see how relevant Holocaust Memorial Day is to living to our policies, our delivery in Wales of our public services, and, indeed, in how we also raise questions and concerns about UK Government legislative programmes, like the Nationality and Borders Bill, and how we have to speak up on those points. 

Thank you for your statement, Minister. You quite rightly mentioned the massacres that have occurred since the Holocaust, but I just want to mention a couple of the massacres that occurred during and immediately after the first world war, which are very vividly and passionately remembered by many of my constituents. Sioned Williams has just mentioned the Armenian massacre of 1915. This was a Turkish Government-sanctioned attempt to exterminate the Armenian people. Over 1 million Armenians were murdered, using many of the methods subsequently adopted by the Nazis: forced eviction, forced marches, starvation, stabbing, and ultimately firing squads and burial in thinly disguised mass graves. All of this is painstakingly recorded by Patrick Thomas, the Carmarthenshire priest, who is revered by Welsh Armenians.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar of 1919 cannot be described as an extermination—the unarmed civilians who were gunned down are counted in their thousands rather than the millions—but the fact that the massacre was carried out by the British army in order to suppress demands for Indian independence should make it equally shocking, because it was carried out in our name, or in the name of the British empire. Roundly denounced by Winston Churchill in the House of Commons, it has never led to a formal apology to the Indians, and particularly the Sikhs—

Jenny, can you ask your question, please?

—who really warn about this. So, I appreciate that, above all, Holocaust Memorial Day remains an unimaginable burden for the Jewish community in Cardiff, as well as the Gypsy and Traveller and Roma community, and also all the gay community, who were massacred by the Nazis. But today, as the prospect of war in eastern Europe raises its ugly head again, what does the Minister think we can do about understanding that it is war and want and racism that fuels these terrible massacres that have divided communities based on our differences of religion, race or sexual orientation, and that war does nothing but harm, as we have seen in the starvation faced by most of the population of Afghanistan this winter?

Thank you very much indeed, Jenny Rathbone, and thank you for speaking up for your constituents, the Armenian community and the massacre, and also your Jewish people and community and families in your constituency, and all our constituencies in Wales. Thank you for acknowledging some of the atrocities and shocking events leading to global changes, Indian independence.

Interestingly, today, I spoke at an event on global solidarity that was organised by Hub Cymru Africa, and we talked about the importance of global solidarity and for Wales to be reaching out, and building on from the League of Nations to the United Nations, the crucial role played by uniting together in terms of ensuring that we have peace and we can't have global solidarity without peace. So, we live in a challenging world.

Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity for us to acknowledge and recognise those atrocities and genocides that are in history, and it is acknowledged by the Holocaust Memorial Day that this is a time for everyone. So, I think, as has been very clearly said by those who organise Holocaust Memorial Day, it,

'encourages remembrance in a world scarred by genocide', and we promote and support Holocaust Memorial Day—the international day on 27 January—to remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, and the millions of people killed under Nazi persecution, and in the genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur. I've just met some of those acknowledged, but most importantly, marking, as I make this statement today, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. So, that Holocaust threatened the fabric of civilisation. Genocide still must be resisted every day and, as they say, in the UK, in Wales, prejudice and the language of hatred must be challenged by us all.

I'm grateful to the Minister for her statement. I was fortunate enough to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau as a teenager through my school. The stillness and silence that enveloped the concentration camp, the lack of colour or joy and the weight of the atrocities that were allowed to happen there are all memories that will live with me forever. Elie Wiesel, a Jewish Auschwitz survivor who went on to become a Nobel laureate, wrote of his time at the concentration camp. In his 1960s memoir, Night, he shares his grief of the horrors that occurred and the following extract is found printed on a wall in Auschwitz:

'Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.

'Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.'

At least 1.3 million people were inmates of Auschwitz. At least 1.1 million people were killed. Six million Jewish men, women and children were murdered in the Holocaust. As time moves on and fewer survivors are able to share their stories directly with the new generation, it is imperative that their stories do not die with them.

I must pay tribute to the Holocaust Educational Trust for their tireless work in ensuring these stories are taught and heard. Their aim is to educate young people from every background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learned for today. The trust works in schools, universities and in the community to raise awareness and understanding of the Holocaust, providing teacher training and outreach programmes to schools—

You need to ask your question now.

—and teaching aids and resource material. The Lessons from Auschwitz project that the Minister mentioned in her statement allows two post-16 students from every school and college in the country to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. In commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day and the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27 January 1945, we bear witness to those who endured genocide and honour the survivors and all those whose lives were changed beyond recognition. As is also written on the wall at Auschwitz:

'Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'

Diolch.

Diolch yn fawr, Samuel Kurtz, and can I say how moving it is to learn more about our new Senedd Members? Thank you very much for the statement today, Samuel, because I mentioned the Holocaust Educational Trust earlier on. I know—it was since 2008 when I was the former education Minister, when we started that funding of the Holocaust Educational Trust—how important it has been to fund that, and to hear from you, your personal statement and testimony of what it's meant for you, going to Auschwitz, learning from the experience and, as you said, reading to us today, reminding us of Elie Wiesel's book, Night. So, thank you very much for being that young ambassador who has come back and influenced us, and we'll always remember that now about you, Sam, in this Senedd.

I think it's important to recognise that, as a result of funding from the Welsh Government since 2008, the Lessons from Auschwitz in person and online project has reached 1,826 students from across Wales, 226 teachers from across Wales, and 41 schools and 142 students participate in the project this year, even through the virtual process and access. The most recent visits actually took place in January 2020, and 162 students and teachers participated, 70 schools across Wales; all of our schools will be involved. I do want to say that this is very important in terms of our new curriculum. This is very much a cross-Government statement today that I'm taking forward. Because in the new curriculum, we're designing it to secure learners' progress towards four purposes, including support for learners to become ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world. That's going to help our learners and young people to grow, like you said, Sam, to recognise that understanding of the complex and diverse nature of societies past and present and to learn through that experience of our support for the Holocaust Educational Trust. We must always, in Wales, look out, learn from history and share it with each other to influence policy and purpose.

There are some horrors in history that are so evil that human beings want to try and forget them, but we must never do that with the Holocaust, because it was a horror perpetrated almost in plain sight, and it is the banality of the evil and the fact that it happened over years that stands out as well: a railway that was built to take people to gas chambers to die, queues of people to be processed, a web of deception and betrayal, families like the Franks, with Anne and her diary, that were ripped from hiding places and thrown to be slaughtered. 

Minister, Hugo Rifkind wrote a remarkable blog about the Holocaust in 2015 emphasising how important it is that we continue to talk about the fact that it was what people did—the people. This is what I'd like to ask you about. He focuses on how easily it happened, how, although people who killed and the people who were killed had grown up alongside one another, some of them identified traits that they wanted to wipe from the face of the earth. Rifkind said:

'The dead and killers alike knew china teapots, Mozart, varieties of cheese.... Then, one day, they...began to slide towards something else.'

So, Minister, do you agree that this is one of the principal reasons we have to mark this day, because that slide into horror is something that can lurk beneath the most seemingly civilised of societies, of times—that we cannot take for granted that that was another place, another time, that it can never be safe to bury it in history's tide?

Thank you very much, Delyth Jewell. I will simply say that every word you said is pertinent and important for us, not just today in responding to this statement, but in how we move forward as elective representatives, as Government Ministers and in communities. Commemorating the Holocaust is important, to recognise and to ensure that we never forget—never forget—how dangerous, hateful and divisive narratives can be, what can happen when people and communities are targeted and dehumanised because of who they are. I've talked about the 'othering' of sections of society that happens. It can become incremental in terms of undermining freedoms and, indeed, undermining the rule of law. We know the Holocaust didn't happen overnight. It began with a gradual erosion of human rights and divisive rhetoric against people who were different or were perceived to be different to others. So, those are the lessons we learn today.

And finally, Peter Fox.

Thank you, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you, Minister, for the statement. Children, mothers, fathers, grandparents—no-one was immune to being engulfed in the depraved flames of Nazism. More than 6 million people were murdered, as we've already heard, and they were murdered not for any fault of their own, but simply because of who they were. And that number is more than just a figure; behind it are millions of people who were mums and dads, doctors and teachers, men and women who were ruthlessly killed by that depraved regime. Yet the only relief we can take is that, fortunately, some managed to survive that ordeal. One of those was the late Mady Gerrard, who managed to start a new life for herself in Monmouthshire. In recalling her ordeal, she told the South Wales Argus:

'In 1944, at 14 years old, I was deported from my native Hungary to Auschwitz. I was engaged to be married to the love of my life. He was to be a doctor and I was to be an art historian, but that wasn't what Hitler had planned for us. We arrived in Auschwitz on July 8. It was hell.'

We'll never know fully what happened in that camp. Following the war, she returned to her native Hungary hoping to find her father, but she would soon learn that he was one of the 6 million. Holocaust Memorial Day encourages every one of us to remember one of the darkest periods in history, as well as the subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Therefore, it's incumbent on us to ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten. As a famous quote at Auschwitz eloquently states, 'The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.'

Therefore, we must learn from the past as well as never shy away from the challenge of hatred in all its forms. I welcome the Welsh Government's funding for the Lessons from Auschwitz programme, which is being delivered in collaboration with the Holocaust Educational Trust. Minister, can you provide assurances that the Welsh Government will provide long-term funding for that programme? Thank you.

Thanks very much, Peter Fox, and thank you, also, for your very powerful contribution this afternoon, drawing, as many of us will do and have done this afternoon, from your own constituent, from a survivor, and for that survivor being able to share her story and the story of her family, and her survival and the horrific impact that the Holocaust had on her life, but being able to share that as part of the education that we all need and that we're now embedding in our Lessons from Auschwitz project. I can, just finally, assure you that—with all of your commitments today—this is a commitment, and I think I've reflected that, in terms of our new curriculum, our ethos and values of this Welsh Government. I hope I can say, on behalf of the Welsh Parliament, how important it is that we continue with our support for the Holocaust Educational Trust and, indeed, for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and that this is embedded into the life of Wales, not just today but every day, and in our schools and education.

Thank you, Minister.